1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a child passenger securing apparatus for use in a vehicle which is designed to protect a child passenger by restraining his body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most road vehicles are provided with a restraining webbing for fastening an occupant seated in a seat. Since this type of restraining webbing is generally disposed with a view to being used by an adult passenger when he is seated, the disposition of the webbing is not always appropriate for a child passenger.
In order to overcome the above disadvantage, child passenger securing apparatuses have already been proposed wherein the apparatus body is mounted on a seat of a vehicle and secured to the seat by a restraining webbing and a child passenger is seated in this body and fastened by a restraining means, exclusively for a child passenger, which is provided on the body so that he is protected in an appropriate condition. One type of conventional child passenger securing apparatus employs a retractor for winding up the restraining means. In this type of apparatus, the retractor is mounted at the rear of the backrest portion of the apparatus body, and the distal or leading end of the restraining means unwound from the retractor is passed over the rear portion of the apparatus body and led out to the vicinity of the shoulders of the child passenger.
For this reason, the thickness of the backrest portion needs to be reduced so that when the apparatus body is mounted on a seat for an adult passenger, a portion of the restraining means passing behind the apparatus body will not contact the seat. In the case of a backrest portion with a relatively large thickness, said portion of the restraining means contacts the seat, thus causing friction to occur between the seat and the restraining means when unwound and rewound. It may be considered employing an arrangement in which the backrest portion is formed with a relatively large thickness, and the thickness of only a portion thereof along which the restraining means passes is reduced. This arrangement, however, has the disadvantage that the apparatus body cannot be molded with high efficiency.